C&C requested...

[jprzybyla]

Below is a scan of a slide that was taken in the late 1980's when photography was a passion. My interest has been renewed with the purchase of a Nikon D90 camera. I scanned this with a Epson Perfection 4180 Photo scanner at 2400 dpi. Are the dpi correct? Is the photo sharp enough? Is it worth my time to scan more? Thank you for your comments and criticism.

[Donald]

Is it worth my time to scan more?

Yes is the answer to that, if they're of the same sort of quality as this.

For my taste, it is cropped a bit tight. I would maybe have given the flowers a bit more room around the edges. But, that's a point for discussion and debate.

As for questions about dpi etc, I'm afraid I need to defer to the more technically minded on that one.

[jprzybyla]

Thank you, Donald. As to the cropping I think the slide mounting caused the close crop. It looked good to me but then I have 68 year old eyes.

[jprzybyla]

Another I scanned, same settings.

[Geoff F]

The quality is certainly very good, subject to Donald's comment about close cropping.

Best scanning resolution is a bit like asking you to estimate the length of a piece of string which is in my pocket.

My scanner is slightly different (the 3590 model) but I think they operate similiarly.

What size settings did you use with regard to output size? If you specify a larger output size than the original (your required finished size) a resolution setting of 300 ppi should be sufficient because it will automatically resize for you.

The alternative method, which I normally use, is to scan for input and output image sizes to be the same dimensions (width and height) then resize to whatever you need with your editing software after exporting the scan.

This means that you will need to calculate the number of pixels required to give your finished size. And that number should be your number of pixels chosen for the scan. For example, if you need a finished image size of 10 ins at 300 ppi (longest edge) you will need to scan for 3000 pixels. In reality, somewhere nearer 200 ppi will probably still print well and, of course, a lot less for internet use.

So there isn't a simple answer, I'm afraid; although someone else may be able to describe things in simpler terms.

Everything is variable but, in reality, it isn't as difficult as it sounds. And a little bit of experimentation should make everything a lot clearer.

[Bobobird]

Very nice pics and the scans too. But for best quality scans it is best to use a slides scanner. That said you can get away with a normal scanner. I have nothing much to scan but have a few times before and if memory serves me right set the dpi to the max that the scanner allows and work down from that until you find one that is acceptable.

[Geoff F]

Those Epson Perfection scanners, if the 4180 works like mine, have attachments for scanning negs and slides which work quite well. Possibly a little more fiddly to operate than a specially designed unit but quite adequate for a general purpose scanner.

[jprzybyla]

Thanks all...Geoff you are correct the scanner does have an attachement for placing slide into. I scanned for the output as the original size and then resized in Photoshop Elements 8. The first time I scanned the slides I used 300 dpi but could not get the sharpness and resolution of the original slides. So then I used 2400 dpi, that seemed to give the resolution of the orignal. Once again thanks for the replies and advice.